Turf maintenance vehicles such as lawn mowers, aerators, and spreader/sprayers are used by consumers and professional alike. These vehicles are typically configured as walk-behind or ride-on vehicles having an attached implement such as a grass cutting deck. Within the deck, cutting blades rotate at a speed sufficient to cut vegetation over which the deck passes during operation. The deck (e.g., cutting blades) may be powered by the engine via an implement drive system. A power take-off (PTO) is provided to allow the implement drive system to selectively engage with, and disengage from, the engine. That is, when the PTO is engaged, the engine may effectively power the implement drive system.
Turf maintenance vehicles are known to use an electronic controller to monitor various engine and vehicle parameters. For example, the controller may monitor operator input regarding engine speed, and output commands to an electronic governor of the engine in response thereto. Such a speed control system is disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 9,002,585.
To assist with maintenance, some vehicles also provide service indicators or reminders. Such reminders are usually presented based upon the expiration of a predetermined, fixed period of engine operation (the maintenance interval). These reminders may be presented to the operator when the maintenance task (e.g., engine oil change) is due and, once the task is completed, the reminder may be reset. The reminder is provided again at the expiration of subsequent maintenance intervals. Other reminders are not resettable and merely trigger at fixed intervals (e.g., every 100 hours).
Still further, professional landscape contractors may work on multiple properties during a given day. In order to recover costs associated with each job, the operator may monitor engine and/or machine operation time, e.g. via an hour meter, for the duration of each job and record the same to a log. While effective, engine run time may not always reflect actual job cost. Moreover, the operator may not always remember to log hour meter readings between jobs.